Generally, in the field of wireless communication the concept of cell-reselection is well known and handled since the first releases of global system for mobile communications (GSM). Such conventional approaches are based on the assumption that the wireless communication devices operating in the cellular networks are mobile handsets which randomly move in the coverage area of the cellular network, or beyond, and as well randomly carry out voice resp. data connections with the cellular network and communication partners reachable over the cellular network. These approaches were mainly designed to assure connectivity for those mobile handsets.
Further the needs of the cellular networks to allow load-balancing functions was taken into account, and lead to a couple of measurement reports sent from the wireless communication devices operating in a cellular network to its serving base node, in order to cover both requirements.
With the advent of machine type communication (MTC) a couple of such boundary conditions need to be re-considered, in particular with regards to the envisaged objectives. One major objective for certain types of MTC devices is the optimization of power consumption, e.g. for metering devices operating in a field without power supply.
This leads to a natural tradeoff between the cellular network's desires for measurement reports from the wireless communication devices and the power consumption of the wireless communication devices operating in such cellular networks.
Not only the transmission of measurement reports as such needs additional power resources of the wireless communication device. The operation on a base node with worse signal strength requires for wireless communication devices, in particular those operating in enhanced coverage mode, an increased power consumption than on a better reachable base node. Hence, would the cellular network in an attempt to carry out load balancing functions push a MTC device to a base node with worse signal strength, this would inevitably lead to higher power consumption. Without indication by the wireless communication device, e.g. by means of measurement reports, this situation is not known to the cellular network.
An extreme case applies for stationary wireless communication device, which is in particular foreseen in the definition of NB-IOT, a new narrowband radio technology to address the requirements of the Internet of Things (IoT) currently under standardization by ETSI. Such wireless communication devices would in a stable cellular network need no cell-reselection related measurements, and consequently no measurement reports to be sent to the cellular network at all. This situation also applies for devices with low mobility or regular predictable movement profiles.
Especially for stationary wireless communication devices the reselection should not be based on momentary received signal quality measurements only, as the situation is static and no fast reselection is required in order not to lose coverage.
But would all such wireless communication devices, for which a vast amount is expected in the market overviews, only orientate on its own measurements and thus stay on the base node with best signal strength, this could lead to an unbalance or even overflow situation for the cellular network.
Therefore, there is a need for a mechanism that fulfills both the power consumption objectives of the wireless communication devices and on the other hand the need for an effective load balancing by the cellular networks.
It is therefore the goal of present invention to overcome the mentioned disadvantages and to propose a solution for an improved cell-reselection method for the wireless communication device.
Further alternative and advantageous solutions would, accordingly, be desirable in the art.